Engineering, Agriculture, Science and Technology Journal (EAST-J)

Waste Management Practices for Mushroom Cultivation in Malaysia

Nurulaini Abu Shamsi — 2023-07-27

Mushroom cultivation can be considered one of the best presentations of sustainable and circular economy activities. The growth substrate used for mushroom cultivation consists of other agricultural waste and its post-harvested waste. The waste product, Spent Mushroom Substrate (SMS), could also be used for animal feeding, plant fertilizer, and feedstock for biogas. It is then essential to determine whether the SMS produced is being used for other purposes to ensure that mushroom agriculture activity is a sustainable and circular economy activity. Therefore, this study explores the mushroom industry's waste management practices in the Malaysian context. A cross-sectional survey was conducted on 89 mushroom farmers. The results found that 60.7% of them manage SMS eco-friendly while only 16.9% handle plastic waste eco-friendly. This finding indicates that not all mushroom cultivation in Malaysia can be considered a sustainable and circular economic activity. Therefore, strategies should be formulated to increase the sustainable approach to managing SMS, such as workshops or providing comprehensive infrastructure and networks.

Consumer Perception and Acceptance Across Different Scales of Vertical Farming in Klang Valley

Kartigha Ayamany — 2023-07-27

To fulfil specific social and ecological goals, urban planners have started to view cities as sites for food production due to the world's increasing urbanisation and population growth. A large urban population can accommodate a bigger population. However, it is necessary to do so while reducing the expense of essential services. Town zones need the most intensive efforts, but they also provide the advantage of integrating local food production facilities into development owing to the high concentration of consumers. With the Malaysian government promoting urban farming initiatives, urban residents in affected communities will be able to explore vertical farming activities as a source of income. Thus, this study explores consumer insights on the awareness and purchasing habits of vertical farming products and systems. In specific, this study determines the fundamental drivers behind the implementation of three separate vertical farming systems as well as the behavioural intent of consumers to acquire either the items produced by these systems or the systems themselves. A quantitative survey involving 410 respondents from the Klang Valley was carried out. Structural equation modelling was used as the analysis method in this study. The findings reveal that customer acceptability of vertical farming systems is mostly influenced by their perceived usefulness. Greater accessibility and functionality increase the possibility that the technology will be accepted by consumers. This study will accommodate further research into the viability of vertical farms operating at various scales based on the needs and financial capabilities of a region.

IUKL Smart Car Parking App Using Automatic License Plate Recognition and Raspberry Pi

Hafiza Ahmad — 2023-07-27

This Paper outlines the development of the IUKL Smart Parking mobile app developed for the Infrastructure University of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The Android mobile application was developed using android studio and allows users to make reservations for the IUKL campus parking facilities. Furthermore, an automatic license plate recognition algorithm was developed using a Raspberry Pi computer and tested using sample license plate images displayed on a smartphone. The license plate detection algorithm was implemented using Python as the programming language and the Python library Python-tesseract, which is an optical character recognition tool for Python. The automatic license plate recognition technique was created using this Python module. Additionally, the algorithm was tested using sample license plate images and this was accomplished using images displayed from a mobile device and yielded mainly accurate results, though not 100%. The results were displayed by emitting different LED colored lights, “Red” was emitted when a plate number was not identified, and “Green” was emitted when the plate number was identified successfully. Moreover, a database was developed using PhpMyAdmin which consists of data regarding users and parking lots. This was done to solve the issue whereby no information was recorded regarding the availability of parking spaces at the IUKL campus. This paper can also serve as a template and guide for the complete implementation of a smart parking system in a university-based environment.

Computer Vision-Based Approach for Breast Cancer Rehabilitation Evaluation: A Survey

Muriati Muda — 2023-07-27

The number of breast cancer survivors living several decades after their diagnosis is increasing, which means there is a greater need for effective rehabilitation programs. While solid evidence suggests that safe exercise can improve quality of life and reduce the side effects of cancer treatments, recent research has revealed that patients may struggle to perform suggested physical exercises, particularly those in home-based rehabilitation programs. Most patients do not meet recommended levels of activity due to a lack of confidence in safety and a lack of supervision and evaluation. As a result, computer vision-based approaches have increased use for monitoring and evaluating exercise performance. Reliable motion capture sensors with advanced machine learning capabilities provide opportunities for systematic and standardized evaluation systems. This survey explores the literature on computer vision-based approaches to rehabilitation evaluation systems, including data collection with motion capture sensors and public datasets, feature extraction and representation, and feature comparison for evaluation. The study also reviews existing rehabilitation systems by comparing their data collection methods and findings. Additionally, the paper discusses challenges and recommendations related to this topic for further research.

Experimental Investigation of Pre-Heating Double Pass Flow Arrangement on Thermal Performance Enhancement of Evacuated Glass-Thermal Absorber Tube Collector (EGATC) for Air Heating Application

Zairul Azrul Zakaria — 2023-07-27

Thermal energy storage (TES) in solar thermal application assist in increasing the performance and efficiency of the solar thermal collector system. Various technique has been developed to enhance TES performance, such as using water and PCM as energy storage material. The type of material selection and design arrangement also contributes to the performance of solar thermal collector systems. This research aims to enhance the thermal performance of the outlet temperature of an Evacuated Glass-Thermal Absorber Tube Collector (EGATC) for air heating applications. The performance study has been conducted to measure the outlet temperature per indoor setup under the artificial solar radiation on the parameter effect of double pass flow arrangement with pre-heating inner absorber parameter. The comparison experiment at wind speed 0.9 m/s for stainless steel inner absorber showed better results on temperature outlet 47.7°C, energy store 4.46KJ and efficiency (collector + storage) 37.5% compared with insulation materials internal absorber with temperature outlet 44.7°C, energy store 4.40KJ and efficiency (collector + storage) 31.1%, respectively. This concluded that EGATC performance can be increased with those respective parameters.

The Association Between Patient Satisfaction and other Related Factors at the Outpatient Department

Siti Nur Fadhilah Masrom — 2023-07-27

Improving the quality of health in Malaysia contributes to improving national development. Patient satisfaction in public healthcare is the yardstick for healthcare quality to provide healthcare services effectively and accurately. The study aimed to define the relationship between patient satisfaction and other related factors in the outpatient department in a public clinic. Related factors investigated in this study were waiting time, staff interpersonal and technical quality, services, facility, and overall. The questionnaires were distributed to the patients visiting the outpatient department at a public clinic in Johor. A quantitative approach was used in this study. Although 500 questionnaires were distributed, only 447 were identified as complete questionnaires. The collected data on patient satisfaction from the questionnaire were analysed by SPSS Software using descriptive statistics (frequency (%), mean and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (independent t-test and ANOVA). The questionnaire analysed using SPSS software showed patient demographic information, disease characteristics, treatment, and other related factors. The level of patient satisfaction for waiting time, staff interpersonal and technical quality, service, and overall was tested using an independent t-test to determine whether there was a statistically significant difference between genders. The other is a one-way ANOVA, which examines whether status, the highest income, and frequency of hospital visits significantly affect patient satisfaction with waiting time.

Simulating and Analysing Patients’ Waiting Time in Outpatient Department at Public Clinic in Johor Using Arena Software

Phang Yook Ngor — 2023-07-27

The simulation is a time-based representation of a real-world given system's performance. This study aims to simulate and analyse patient waiting time in the outpatient department at a public clinic in Johor. A quantitative approach was used in this study. The data collection method was observation. The patients' waiting time at the health clinic will be observed. The data collection will be held for ten days. There have 400 respondents who participated in the study. Arena Software analysed the collected data on waiting time from observation. There were two categories of outpatients in that queue modelling: express and regular. Patients that receive express care are pregnant, old, and disabled. Whereas healthy and young patients were classified as regular patients. The data obtained from the simulation and the observation will be compared to determine whether it satisfies the verification and validation requirements.

Discrete-Event Simulation (DES) and Banker, Chames and Cooper Data Envelopment Analysis (BCC-DEA) Models in Improving the Allocation Officers in Outpatient Department

Phang Yook Ngor — 2023-07-27

This study aims to propose an improvement model for the queuing system and determine the best and most appropriate allocation suggestion for officers at the outpatient department of a public clinic in Johor. In this study, Arena Simulation Software and Lingo Software were used. Discrete-Event Simulation (DES) and Banker, Chames, and Cooper Data Envelopment Analysis (BCC-DEA) models were used to determine the best improvement model across various alternatives. The Min-Max of officers was suggested as an improvement model. The mathematical formulation has been programmed and tested in the Lingo 19.0 software, and Decision-Making Units (DMU) would be suggested. After that, each DMUs were run in Arena Simulation Software. Then, the input and output of each DMUs were determined. The researcher used BCC Model Input-Oriented to reduce the input required to produce the optimal output. The mathematical formulation has been programmed again and tested in the Lingo 19.0 software. Based on the results, DMU is considered an efficient choice if the value θ_0 is one (θ_0= 1). DMU is considered an inefficient alternative if the value θ_0 is not one (θ_0 ≠ 1). The input-oriented BCC model needs to identify the most effective and efficient DMU because they have multiple DMUs that are rated as efficient. So, the Super Efficiency model was used to identify the most efficient and suitable DMU. The mathematical formulation has been programmed again and tested in the Lingo 19.0 software to identify the Super Efficiency model

A Mobile Application for Domestic Violence Victims Support and Evidence Recorder

Nurdatillah Hasim — 2023-07-29

ccording to a study conducted in 2014 by Pusat Penyelidikan Wanita dan Jantina (KANITA) at Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), 9% of women who have ever had a partner in Peninsular Malaysia had domestic violence at one compilation in their lives. In 2010, there were 3,173 cases of domestic violence reported. However, this number increased to 5,014 cases in 2015. According to the Corporate Communication division of Kementerian Pembangunan Wanita, Keluarga dan Masyarakat, calls to Talian Kasih have increased by 57 percent since Perintah Kawalan Pergerakan (PKP). However, calls and WhatsApp messages to the Women’s Aid Organization (WAO) helpline were reduced to 73% of calls a week during the PKP. Before PKP were enforced, WAO received an average of 77.5% of calls and message via WhatsApp in a week. This reduction does not mean that there is a reduction in cases because it is feared that the victim will not be able to make calls due to the situation where they are always with the abuser during the period of PKP. This study aims to develop a mobile application to aid and guide people facing domestic violence. The primary function of this application is to help the victim; 1) to record their evidence in audio/video recording, 2) to help the victim to alert the polis in case of emergency, 3) to get help and find the nearest shelter whenever needed. This mobile application is developed using the Flutter framework. Firebase is used as the back-end component to store all the records. The result of this study is the improvement of the existing mobile application for domestic violence in Malaysia.

Course Recommendation Application for Admission to University

Norhaidah A. Haris — 2023-07-29

Studying in Higher Education institutions has been the dream of many students who completed their post-secondary schools. This study aims to assist the students in their decision for admission to the program courses offered at Universiti Kuala Lumpur (UniKL). A wide variety of technical program courses are offered on UniKL’s twelve campuses. Every campus institute has specific specialisation program courses. Students who wished to study at UniKL usually would have to search for courses offered on various UniKL campuses. Usually, students could not decide which courses suited their personality and future career path. This study proposes a prototype application that assists and recommends the students with their course selection according to their personality and final examination results. The prototype would let the students take a personality test that allows them to understand their personality and proposes a list of UniKL courses that match their personality and examination results. Therefore, the students would have a clear view of the prospective opportunities the program courses have to offer and the direction of their future careers. The career prediction recommendation would let the students target suitable courses that match their examination results and personality.